Sarah Huang is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at Purdue University. Her work focuses on immigrant engagement in U.S. mainstream food movements and agricultural development in Vietnam. You can find more of her work here: https://www.sarahdhuang.org/
When I was in middle school, I had one particular meal with my family that still sticks in my memory. It was a normal night, except for the fact that a new Harry Potter book was going to be released that evening and I was going to go with my sister to the bookstore for the party. We had a quick dinner of a large cheese pizza from the local Big Y grocery store. My dad arrived home later that night and came home to a half-eaten box of pizza left out on the dining table.
Mott 32 is an international restaurant business run by Maximal Concepts that combines design, cuisine and storytelling in all three of their locations. Mott 32’s concept takes high-end luxury food into a more accessible atmosphere. The menu offers dim sum at any time along with a banquet assortment of Chinese food from Peking duck to Szechuan and Cantonese foods. During an interview with Malcolm Wood, the co-founder of Maximal Concepts, he described how Mott 32’s restaurants utilize design elements and ingredients to reflect the city.